Restoring milled Webley cylinders

[carebear]

An Oklahoma gunsmithery is now in the process of restoring Webley cylinders milled down to fire .45 ACP to their original condition allowing .455 Webley to be fired.

http://www.truittandson.com/


I have no personal knowledge of the company and cannot endorse them but as this forum represents one of the most concentrated groups of Webley owners I'm aware of, I thought there might be some interest.

[M1917]

Interesting...I wonder how they plan to do it? The cylinders were shaved at the loading end. Are they going to cut a blank and weld it, then re-mill the cylinder? It sounds expensive. And any change (for good or ill) destroys the collector's value of the gun. Mine is just a shooter, and that's all I wanted. I look forward to seeing the photos and descriptions. Thanks for the info!
R/S
Fritz

[IndianaSean]

Very interesting indeed. I would be curious how they do that as well. Easy to remove material, hard to put back. Hmm....

Sean

[Solent MKIII]

Interested in seeing the results of this myself. Seems like it would be easier ( albiet expensive ) to just machine out a new, replacement cylinder than go to all the work of welding and remachining the original.

[M1917]

I'm sure if there was an interest, there are plenty of gun manufacturers in Italy that can recreate the Webley. They've managed to recreate many of the guns of the old west for the Cowboy Action Shooting crowd. Thanks to those fine folks, I have replicas of some of history's great guns. I couldn't afford originals of most, and wouldn't want to shoot them due to their value. If enough people cry out about it, I bet Uberti or Pietta would receate the Webley Green!
R/S
Fritz

[carebear]

Just need to popularize "Victorian Action Shooting". Get all the classic mid/late 19th Century British and European firearms involved.

Adams, Webley, the various French revos (a la The Mummy), C96 Mausers etc with lots of puttees and pith helmets.

Looks like Cowboy Action Shooting has spun off a "Wild Bunch" variant, so VAS may not be out of line.

[M1917]

There's already a military catagory, shooting a victorian era military rifle and a single pistol with a reload. I use a Trapdoor and a Schofield clone. I've been thinking about a Webley and a Martini-Henry...

[carebear]

That's more limited than what I was thinking.

Think H. Rider Haggard, explorers into the heart of darkness, that sort of thing. The costume options alone should draw participants, and sundowners out of crystal glasses at a safari camp table beat a shot of rotgut hunched over a campfire any day.

[M1917]

I guess it depends on what you like! A campfire, a good cigar, and a flask of fine bourbon often ended long hot days of reenacting for me in California. And good friends around the fire made it better!

So far, at my local club, it's been myself, an artillery sergeant with a Henry or a Spencer, and a Span-Am war officer with a .38 and a Krag.

[Rook]

Interesting...I wonder how they plan to do it? The cylinders were shaved at the loading end. Are they going to cut a blank and weld it, then re-mill the cylinder? It sounds expensive.
R/S
Fritz

It was easy enough to ask them.

We are doing the Webley cylinder repair/restoration. I had an aerospace machine shop precision laser cut
sets of 2-piece plates which we sweat solder to the extractor and cylinder to return them to the original length
so that they can fire the .455 Webley cartridge. After attaching the plates, they are then dressed down to
match the profile of the original parts. The outer edge is burnished to try to cover the seam as much as
possible. I don't guarantee to make it disappear but it is as minimal as possible in appearance. I started
by working on the revolvers in my own collection and have now done several for customers. The restoration
is quite successful.

We can also refinish Webleys in either the commercial blue or military finish. And, I make lanyard rings.

Cost to restore the cylinder and ejector to .455 length is $150. Refinishing if desired is extra.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Regards,

Oren Truitt

Seems "simple" enough to me.

And for $150, not a bad deal for all the work involved.

Russ

[M1917]

Thanks for asking the questions Rook!
R/S
Fritz

[carebear]

Sure, like actual facts gained with a minimum of effort are really better than empty speculation...

[Rook]

Sure, like actual facts gained with a minimum of effort are really better than empty speculation...

Well then, next time I'll spin you a tale of Aliens, the illegitimate son of Belloq and the smithing prowess of ancient Atlantis.

"Trust me."



Russ

[Michaelson]

COOL!!!

I'll take notes!

Regard! Michaelson

[Kokopelli]

Here are some pics I requested- he said he's working on getting pics up of the finished product. I also asked about stamping the serial number back onto the edge, he said that they don't have the correct font to do it- yet. Sounds like he's concerned with accuracy at least. I just wonder what this would do to the value of a WG to have this 'reversal' done? I know refinishing an antique greatly reduces the value.




I load my own 45acp, so ammo pressures aren't a problem for me, but it would be cool to have it 'restored' to fire the .455 Webley!

[carebear]

What loss in value did the conversion to .45 ACP cause?

The converted revolvers are already one step removed from "original" and yet they've become their own category of collectibility.

I guess the decision could be based on overall condition? If it isn't high value anymore why not "de-sporterize" it (to borrow a phrase from rifles?